If you google this one, you will get the famous Hubble shot, "Pillars of Creation". You can actually find in this picture where the Hubble shot was taken. Its the three small pillars near the center of the nebula. One of my favorite objects as well. It is mostly hydrogen alpha wavelengths as well, so the pillars are hard to make out without photography. It is located looking near the center of the milky way as well, at a distance of around 6,500 light years. To give an idea of size, the spire on the left side is around 57 trillion miles long! The distance from the sun to Pluto is around 3.6 billion miles at its farthest distance from the sun. That one spire is over 7000 times larger than our solar system from one side of Pluto's orbit to the other. Our entire solar system would take up just a small fraction of one of the pixels that makes this image up.
Reprocessed on 10.30.09
Shot 8.16.09 from Southern Utah
Scope: Orion 254mm F4.7 Prime with Baader MPCC
Mount: Atlas EQ-G (eqmod)
Camera: Canon 450D Iso 800 (self modified)
Guidecam: Quickcam pro 9000
Images: 28 lights at 180 sec
9 darks
10 bias
Software: Subtraction in Iris, stacking registration in Registar, final adjustments in Photoshop.
